


southern nights

by you_idjits



Series: college kids [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College Roommates, Deaf Character, M/M, Road Trip, deaf!Cas, fluff - unadulterated fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 07:50:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2540057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/you_idjits/pseuds/you_idjits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The summer after sophomore year, Dean and Cas hit the road together. They make a list – Sioux Falls first, then west to the Pacific Ocean, south along the Oregon and California coastlines. Out to the Grand Canyon and the great red emptiness of Utah. One big road trip, just the two of them and the Impala.<br/>It’s good. It’s really good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	southern nights

The summer after sophomore year, Dean and Cas hit the road together. Dean plays it close to his chest, doesn’t mention the road trip to Bobby or Sam – so he and Cas can surprise them in South Dakota, the first stop on their list. Yes, they have a list. It started when Cas admitted one evening in June that he’d never seen most of the country.

(Dean admitted the same night that he’d seen too much of it. He’d seen the seedy motels and the alleyway fights. He’d seen the same stretching cornfields of Indiana too many times to count. Even now, he dreams of his father’s empty beer bottles. His childhood was a streak of neon the color of a roadside diner.)

So they make a list – Sioux Falls first, then west to the Pacific Ocean, south along the Oregon and California coastlines. Out to the Grand Canyon and the great red emptiness of Utah. One big road trip, just the two of them and the Impala.

It’s good. It’s really good. Cas puts his feet on the dashboard and Dean tells him not to, except when he’s driving he can’t sign, so Cas pretends not to read his lips and keeps his feet where they are. They live on beef jerky and cheap beer. On highways, Dean plays his Kansas cassettes with the volume turned up, singing along loudly and off-key. He thinks Cas feels the vibrations, at least, feels the impression of the music. He thinks Cas likes that.

They sleep in motels, mostly, save one regrettable night in Nowheresville, Minnesota. The car breaks down and it’s too late, too dark outside for Dean to do anything about it. So they curl up in the backseat together, Cas’s head on Dean’s chest, and sleep terribly. It’s absolutely awful. Dean wakes with back pain that aches for a week. _Authenticity_ , Cas signs with a shit-eating grin, and Dean almost punches him in the face.

In Seattle they splurge on a nice hotel, just for one night, with room service and a king-size bed, the whole nine yards. Dean’s never been to Seattle, though he knows its reputation for rain. When they’re there, in early July, the sky is a clear cornflower blue. They do the touristy stuff, the Space Needle and so on. At Pike Place Market, Dean buys Cas flowers, and he blushes as red as the snapdragons. That day is the best day.

They fall into kitschy tourist traps all down the California coast. They go to Disneyland, of course. Cas loves it, though Dean finds it loud and sweaty and unpredictable. Cas insists on riding every roller coaster, even the upside-down ones.

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass on this one,” Dean says, looking up at the California Screamin’. _You go ahead_ , he signs.

 _Walk me up there,_ Cas signs, because he gets nervous about interacting with strangers. He pulls out his explanation badge and shows it to the worker at the front. Dean made him take off the apology a long time ago, so now it just reads: _Hi, my name is Castiel Novak. I’m deaf._ _I can both sign ASL and read lips._ The ride attendant, like most decent folks, catches on pretty quickly, but Dean still holds Cas’s hand until he gets on the ride.

 _I’m just going to stay on the ground and try not to freak out,_ Dean signs.

Cas doesn’t die. He comes off with flushed cheeks and wild hair, his smile wide and unapologetic. _I want to go again,_ he signs.

And because Dean is a total goner, because Dean can never say no to that smile, because Dean is crazy in love with Cas, he gives in. _Sure, whatever, knock yourself out._ So he stands in the middle of the swirling crowds, hands stuffed in pockets, sweating profusely in the California sunshine, and lets Cas have his fun.

They buy pink cotton candy and their hands get sticky and sugary. Cas licks his fingers and then Dean licks Cas’s fingers and then they almost start making out in the middle of Disneyland. Unfortunately, a lot of people might still say gross things about two grown men kissing in front of young children, so they have to restrain themselves.

Dean buys Cas Minnie Mouse ears. Of course he does.

This feels like the best day too. They’re all the best days; they just keep stacking up like Polaroid photographs.

The Grand Canyon is big; Texas is bigger. Texas goes on forever and ever. Oklahoma is one big grassy field.

They buy postcards in every city, even the unimportant ones. Cas keeps them all organized alphabetically in a folder in his suitcase. Dean thinks it’s adorable.

Dean kisses him a lot. Like, a lot. They’re actually disgusting. Dean keeps thinking it’s maybe time to grow up, to get serious. But he is serious about Cas. He’s more serious about this, about them, than he’s ever been in his life.

 _Let’s move in together_ , Dean signs one day. It’s a warm, windy evening in northern Mississippi, and they’re sitting on the roof of the Impala eating peach pie together. Good pie, from one of those roadside stands a couple of miles back.

 _What?_ Cas signs. _Sorry, wasn’t looking._

Dean repeats the motions, then adds, _Is that okay? Do you want to do that?_

 _Yeah, of course_. Cas puts down his fork. _Do you think we can afford it?_

_We can make do. Maybe I’ll get a part-time job. There’s a mechanic in town that Bobby knows; I could find work with her._

_Okay,_ Cas signs. _Okay, yes. I would love to do that._

Dean kisses him, kisses the sugar and peaches on his lips. He feels like they’re in a hot air balloon together, going up and up and up into the sky.

In Louisiana they go to jazz clubs at two in the morning. Jazz, Dean insists, even deaf people can love. It’s not just music, it’s the crackle of energy in the air, it’s sweat and madness and an unquenchable passion for life. It’s the crazy vivacity of Jack Kerouac’s _On the Road_. And hell, maybe Dean identifies a little too strongly with Kerouac’s character of the same name, but he and Cas are on the road together here. They’re restless and wild and on the cusp of adulthood. It fits.

By August they’re tired and broke and still as in love as ever. They stay with Ellen and Jo in Nebraska for one last week, and then they’re back in Lawrence again. Another year of college, here they come.

The first thing they do is visit Mary’s grave, of course; Dean didn’t like being gone from her for so long. He brings sunflowers, because they were her favorite. Cas holds Dean’s hand carefully, with just the tips of his fingers. It’s a nice day, a quiet day. The best ending to the best summer.

The second thing they do is look for apartments.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on [tumblr](http://shootingstarcas.tumblr.com/post/101451189451/southern-nights)
> 
> Thanks as always to my beta, [Tasha](http://kraziiisme.tumblr.com/)  
> Thanks to everyone else for reading.
> 
> Title comes from [Southern Nights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOUFo4Lwf8) by Glen Campbell. As I veer from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 to choose 70s song titles for myself, I keep veering towards country rock. I don't even know why. I don't like country rock guys.


End file.
